TDOA 2011 End of Session Legislative Report

During the 2011 legislative session, several boards and commissions were terminated by legislative action and “went off into the sunset” never to resume business. Not the case for the Tennessee Board of Dispensing Opticians, as Morrison Capitol Strategies is pleased to report another favorable year in the Tennessee General Assembly for the TDOA. Pursuant to the passage of SJR468, legislators, staff and lobbyists worked until nearly midnight on May 21, 2011, to adjourn the 1st Session of the 107th Tennessee General Assembly. Faced with a $1.5 billion budget deficit, the members of the General Assembly undertook the arduous task of crafting a balanced budget. Legislators essentially passed the budget as it had been presented to them by Governor Bill Haslam, who in his first term succeeded in finding consensus for his first budget legislation as Governor. Consequently, numerous cuts, utilization of remnants of federal recovery funds and a repeat of the ingenious, self-imposed hospital assessment fee to garner matching federal funds helped avoid severe cuts to TennCare and enabled legislators to complete their business.

TDOA weathered an early scare in the form of SB 0181 by Watson/HB 0618 by Cobb, legislation which would have shortened the termination date for the Board of Dispensing Opticians from June 30, 2015 to June 30, 2011. After investigating the origin of the legislation, calm replaced fear when we learned that it is customary to introduce this type of legislation based on current law T.C.A. 4-3-1011, which states that all health-related boards are required to be self-supporting over a two-year period. Based on information supplied to the Tennessee General Assembly’s Office of Fiscal Review, The Board had a deficit of $4,759.11 in FY09-10 and a deficit of $9,647.53 in FY08-09. The Board’s cumulative balance is $1,497.64. In March, a special meeting of the Joint Government Operations Committee was attended by Kathy Hawkins, Dispensing Opticians Board Chair and Theo Morrison, TDOA lobbyist. The meeting provided an opportunity for the Board to communicate to the Committee the changes in rules implemented by the Board that will foster self-sufficiency. In the end, the Joint Committee approved retaining the current sunset termination date for the Board of June 30, 2015.

A thanks goes out to TDOA President Greg DeCrow, who continues to provide strong leadership and has continued talks with officials at Southwest Community College on establishing a School of Opticianry. The TN Dispensing Opticians Board also deserves thanks for upholding the rules and regulations that uphold the importance of the optician profession. A thank you also goes out to everyone on the board and all TDOA members who remain active in making TDOA stronger!